Down to the studs

Finally.
I've been taking the wallboard off over the past couple of days and I made a couple of discoveries. One was a few scary alien-like corpses that could be either large insects or small birds or even actual aliens. They were behind the vanity wall and they had been dead for a very, very long time. I would have taken photos but I didn't want to terrify anyone into sending out the exorcist. The other was some clean, white mice skeletons behind the wallboard on the opposite wall.
A way nicer surprise was the extra foot of space I uncovered behind the shower. It seems that those terrazzo shower bases came in a standard size, 4'x 3', so they built the shower to fit the pan. I discovered this when I couldn't get a piece of sheetrock out because it had been framed in. When I demolished more wall I saw that a frame had been built onto the sheetrock and there is no reason why we can't take it out and have a 5'x 3' mud-base tiled shower. It will make the room a little larger and only add another three square feet of shower tiles to the ever-expanding budget.

No plumbing fixtures

No plumbing fixtures
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I had to suck it up and call the plumber to remove the valves so we could turn off the water. While he was here he took out the toilet and hauled it away and put the vanity and very heavy countertop out for the garbage. The garbeage men arrived ten minutes later and that's the last we'll see of that baby. Will have to tip them big time on Friday as they have been dealing with a lot of demo trash.
The plumber asked if he was coming back to replace the waste lines with PVC. It hadn't occurred to me but as we don't know what sort ot mess they could be inside it makes sense to do it when the wallboard is out. He also said they could replace the supply lines. With PEX? I asked. No, with copper he replied, it's been tested for years. So you take out the copper pipes and solder more copper in there. Hmm.
The he asked what we were doing about the shower base. Mud, I said. Oh, lead pan? I do that.
What? They still use lead and copper in NY? I just freaked at the thought of more of these heavy metals being brought into my house. The explanation that they've been in use for years doesn't cut it for me either. If I followed that logic I'd be cooking over an open fire lit by rubbing two sticks together.
It is the C21, right? Even in NY?

Vanities

We made the decision that the bathroom vanity is toast so I took a break from tile destruction today to check out a few vanities in the local showrooms. I know I swore I would never set foot in Expo again but I was desperate and willing to explore any option.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was that the new Kraftmaid Venecia kitchen displays were finally open. Last time I was there they were waiting for the granite countertops to be installed and I asked the "Can I help you guy" what the cabinet price per linear foot would be. I was told they were very expensive (the doors come from Italy, you know) so they would run $1800. Well guess what? That was another price pulled from the ether by someone who didn't know what he was talking about and couldn't be bothered to find out. The prices on the vignettes ranged from $440-$998. Pricey but half what I had been told. This lack of attention to detail (aka customer service) didn't surprise me but it didn't put me in a positive mood for vanity shopping either.
Of all the vanities on display, and there are lots to choose from, only one would work in the space. This simple square box from Kohler's Purist range is a whopping $1450 for a 24"x22"x16" box.

.
So, practically speaking, to hold toiletries and towels you would need two, plus a countertop and then the sink and faucet. At least $4000. Crazy money.
I didn't find anything I liked anywhere today but at least when I got back home, I found that the garbage fairy had been, swept the bathroom floor and taken all the boxes of debris to the garage.
It's a slow process.

A lot of old drywall

or a valance of tiles

This is where I finished today. There is a 2" (60cm) border left around the room plus this tiny bit behind the door



I just ran out of boxes to put the debris in, otherwise I might have pressed on to the bitter end. I can't do anything about the "valance" as I'm not supposed to jump on and off ladders at the moment and my arms won't reach up there without a lift.

I had hoped someone would volunteer to help me but so far that hasn't happened, although last Saturday he did carry to the garage one (1) box of old tiles. This morning I suggested that getting a plumber to take out the old toilet would make us look like pussies, we can easily do it. The look I got back means I'll be finding out on my own.

Rot free windows

jane's demo
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I found out how that window stayed rot free (at least on the inside) for the past 40 years. Teak trim, baby. I demo'ed the frame today and the window is builder's standard pine, but it was framed inside with a sloping lower edge of oiled teak. A brilliant solution and if the tiler can't find a way to tile neatly around the replacement I might have someone build me another teak ledge. And maybe we'll add a teak shower seat while we are at it.

Taking it off

...one tile at a time.
Although the tile was laid in 12x12 mesh backed sheets, it doesn't come off like that. I take the chisel or a long-handle flat-blade screwdriver and tap that with a hammer.This loosens the tile so it pops out or I prise it off. It's slow but it's not too messy. I am doing it in 30 minutes stretches, and I like to complete an even section and then clean that up before I take a break. So far I have filled four boxes, six Trader Joe paper bags and a wastepaper basket.





At least the floor is done-that really was the easiest part.
Steve took off a door from the vanity and turned the water off on one faucet. The other one is apparently stuck. This is a major inconvenience as I wanted to get the countertop out so the garbage guys would haul it away today. Oh well, if he can't budge it at the weekend I 'll have to get the plumber to do it when he takes out the toilet and fits a thermostatic valve for the shower

The demolition continues

I can't believe how easily the floor came up, or at least the first few square feet. I've taken off 3sq", so only another 27 to go! I barely have to tap it with the chisel and whole sections of tile spring into my hands, leaving the grout to be swept up later.


Earlier I took the medicine cabinets off the wall. I was really surprised to find how clean it was behind them, because you never know what you are dealing with when you start these projects. Once again I thank the original builders who worked clean and built solidly. I wish they were still around.
Actually taking out the cabinets did lead to a discovery. We decided to save them for the moment and store them in the boy's bedroom next to the bathroom. When I cleared a shelf in the closet I found a white yarmulke, size 7 1/4". Not riches, but a part of the heritage of the house.

Renovator's Remorse

We have begun to get quotes for the bathroom renovation. I can see that this is going to be a long process. We've already started with the "what ifs". The first what if was really quite sensible. What if we replace the window before we re-tile the bathroom? The window isn't failing but it nearly forty years old and has had some repair to rot outside. It is also a sealed unit. It would make sense to replace it now with a venting one and I think we should have another Marvin awning installed. So the budget expands, and the timeline extends.
Then there is the vanity question. We have a floating vanity in this bathroom that I love. My original plan was to keep the unit and junk the marble top but we have to take the unit out to strip the tiles behind it so will it stand up to this treatment bearing in mind it is laminate? Can I find another floating vanity that I like at a price I can stomach? And as for a not-hideous medicine cabinet, why are these things both ugly and outrageously expensive?

I'm beginning to regret starting this and there is a long way to go. Renovation should be fun and I'm not feeling it.

Electrical switches

Electrical switches
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I finally put another piece of the electrical lighting system jigsaw together this weekend. I located the outlets for the centre switch on the seven-gang in the kitchen. This has been bugging me for thirty months. But I'm getting there. In case I forget it goes like this:
Top panel L-R: spots in great room; cans in kitchen; cans in eat-in part of kitchen
Centre Panel: socket with horizontal switch (still a mystery). Vertical switches: pond pump; tree lights; exterior rear floodlights; great room balcony lights; great room third storey lights; chandelier
Bottom: dimmer switch for umbrella pendants.
Now I only have to figure out that horizontal switch, the switch by the kitchen slider, the one by the front door and the two by the grarage doors. And then I can get the x10 system we inherited to work too.

Now we're demo-ing

Actually, it's less "we" more "I" as Steve has gone to Los Angeles. He said to leave it and he'd get round to it at the weekend. When I asked which weekend it turned out to be Xmas. I think I can have the walls stripped before then.
It was no wonder we had a leak. The wallboard at the bottom of the shower was completely black and rotten. Whoever replaced the shower valve didn't caulk around it and water has been dripping down there for who knows how many years. All that damage for want of five minutes and a $5 tube of caulk. Luckily, the wood behind seems sound and every other piece of board is dry so far. It doesn't really matter as we're going back to the studs and putting in cement backer board but if the wallboard is dry there is less chance that we'll have any structural problems or other nasty (expensive) surprises.

Garden gate

As of yesterday we have a new gate. Hurrah. It should last 10-15 years, double hurrah. Unfortunately our handyman thinks the rest of the fence is toast. Boo.I asked him if he would make us a custom fence to replicate what is there now, but he demurred. He thinks we should get a "nice" cedar fence from the local cedar place. Boo hoo. The local cedar fences are only slightly less horrible than the vinyl stuff. (Have you noticed how vinyl fences almost glow in the dark? How do they do that?) I'm not going to worry about it until it actually falls down, even then I might not worry, after all the gate is as solid as a rock.

No turning back now

A four-day weekend, no work or outside obligations, so when would you start the bathroom demolition? Three o'clock on Sunday afternoon? Sounds like a plan.
Actually this wasn't supposed to happen at all. After the plumber came back to fix the downstairs shower (the second time's the charm!) I decided that we could take off the shower doors from the boys' bathroom that we aren't using, to replace the broken ones downstairs. An easy and cheap fix that took ten minutes and most of that was taping up the glass so we can put them out for the garbage.
Then Steven decided to take off the frame as well. The screws came off ok, but we had to use a box-cutter (Stanley knife) to cut through the layers of caulk. Still the frame wouldn't budge. So Steven gave it a good tug and as you can see a good few tiles came too.
We weren't sure whether to do the demo ourselves or get the tilers to do it but I guess that problem has solved itself.

It's a leak, not a drip

The plumber had to come back to fix the shower that was still dripping - it worked fine till I tried to use it! Luckily it was, as I suspected, just a piece of dirt that was stopping the valve from shutting off and I don't know who was happier about that, me or the plumber.
I thought we were done with leaks until I went to wash my hands on Saturday. I couldn't believe my eyes. Water was coming out from the base of the hot faucet. I'd seen water there before but thought we were just splashy washers and wiped it up. It was the first time I'd witnessed this phenomenon. Steven decided that it was just a washer job and he'd fix it while I went out. No big deal.
When I got back several hours later he was very proud that he'd changed the O-ring and all was working again. "I couldn't believe how easy it was" he said, so I trotted off to test drive the tap. I turned it on and the water seeped from the base again, maybe not as fast as before but there was definitely a flow and not just from the spout. Even better, when I turned on the cold tap water flowed from the base of the hot faucet. Like magic.
Steven was not impressed. He took it to bits again and made sure everything was tight but that didn't fix it. By this time the local hardware store was shut, so armed with the Kohler valve we set off for Home Depot. Unfortunately Hopelessly Depressing did not have the correct part for the 40 year old tap so we looked at a new unit. Twenty 8" faucets and not one we liked. What were the odds? We left empty-handed. It's not leaking badly and we'll be renovating that bathroom eventually so we might as well wait and get something we like.
At this moment I'd just like one bathroom that doesn't leak, drip, where the toilet doesn't continually fill or the shower pan isn't cracked. Just one.

Forgive me voters

It's all my fault. I asked, you voted, The Guy was even persuaded by the power of democracy not to use his super delegate status and changed his vote from the Red Crackle vessel sink to the Red & Black, which was my favourite too. But something didn't seem quite right.
I spent all my free time haunting bathroom and home improvement stores trying to catch a glimpse of the four nominated vessel sinks. At Expo I was able to see the Red Spiral and it was way too modern for our space. I was also able to look at a black version of the Red Marble sink but it seemed weird to simulate marble in glass. It just didn't gel. Nowhere on my travels could I find either the Red Crackle or the Red & Black. I was getting desperate and just about to order the latter when it occurred to me to make a template of the vanity so I could better imagine the sink in situ. That's when I worked out what had been bothering me. The Red & Black vessel sink was 18" in diameter, the vanity top is a trapezoid 25"x33.5"x33"x11". The sink was just too damn big.
I don't know how this happened, after all I'd measured it twice. I knew the dimensions, but I'd been so caught up in the colour and pattern I just hadn't envisioned the actual space. The Red Crackle sink is 16 17/18" and for about 30 seconds I thought that would work. Then I came to my senses, dumped the whole splash of colour concept (that will have to come from the hand towels) and looked for something 15" or less. Guess what? There's not a lot out there. But there was one company that makes a glass vessel sink. One that I'd seen before, that was, in fact, the original inspiration for this room.


The 15" Oceana Black Nickel Glass Vessel Sink. It fits, it's in stock, it was on sale. And so, dear readers, I bought it. When it's right, jump on it.


I'm not ashamed to say I made a mistake in putting forward unworkable solutions for the powder room renovation, I apologise to those of you who invested time in voting for a vessel sink only to find your vote disregarded. I ask for your forgiveness and offer this piece of advice as much to myself as to you:
Measure thrice, purchase once.

I want my recessed ironing board

I have spent days pouring over the blueprints for the house, discovering a few interesting things along the way. On the original blueprints the entry way had a flagstone floor. This made perfect modernist sense: the path to the front door was also flagstone so the inside and outside flowed together. I am actually quite glad decided to floor the entry and great room with parquet as it's warmer and is great for working out: put on a pair of socks and glide as if you are on a Nordic trainer.
The carpet in the downstairs powder room should have been ceramic tiles and when we have saved enough money to redo the kitchen it will be tiled at the same time. The windows originally were all 6'x4' units but some were changed to smaller 4'x2' rectangles. The duo square windows in the master were planned as rectangles and we may change them back as it will be $500 cheaper that way. Most notably different was the living room, or as we call it, the den. On the blueprints the floor is level, no raised platform dividing the room into triangles. I really want to talk to Mr Geller to see if this change was incorporated after the first blueprints were drawn up and if there is a structural reason for keeping it. If there isn't, I'm thinking about removing the platform altogether.
Anyway, I thought I'd identified all the differences between the blueprints and the house we live in until today. I asked Atlantic Blueprint to scan the plans onto a CD rom and I spent an hour or so carefully examing them. It was as if I was looking at them with a new eye, things jumped out at me: The kitchen cabinets had been planned differently and the wall of windows became a half wall of windows and a sliding door. But it was when I came to the laundry room that I got really excited. The plans called for a recessed ironing board. How neat is that? I checked out the wall in the laundry room but there is no trace that it ever held such a contraption. I don't iron but I'd love to fit such a thing in the space.

No more drips

At last the plumbing saga is over. Twenty-nine months after we moved; four plumbers, two contractors and two frustrated homeowners later we have a new valve installed on the shower in the downstairs bathroom. In fact we have what Greg, the latest and greatest plumber, swears is the last valve of this type on Long Island. As the alternative to finding and fitting this part (an easy 40 minute job) was to
a) remove the tiles to get at the pipe, cut it and fix a new type of valve, or
b) remove the bookcase we had built in the old pantry, cut a whole in the drywall, cut out the old pipe, fit a new valve, patch, spackle and paint the drywall
you can imagine how happy I was. I wouldn't have got so frustrated about the constantly dripping shower had I not had to use this bathroom every day while we wait to start work on the other two leaky bathrooms. Now I can sit in my study without hearing the drip, drip, drip, knowing I should be doing something about solving the problem.
And now we have a plumber we are happy with we can start on the master bathroom renovation, the boys' bathroom remodel and the laundry room redo.

Preserving the work of Andrew Geller

History of the Pearlroth House



The second video about saving the famous "double diamond" beach house on Long Island, better known as The Pearlroth House, is up at YouTube.

Please share it with everyone interested in modern architecture so we can preserve this mid-century icon.

Inspiration

I was fooling around with my new digital camera yesterday and took this shot


These lights are made from umbrella stands the previous owner found on a trip overseas. When I uploaded the photos to my computer, I realized that the copper and bronze tones of the lampshades were the same as the floor tiles I had chosen for the boys' bathroom.



I don't know why this didn't occur to me before. Maybe it was some sort of unconscious inspiration? But it should tie together nicely, at least I hope so.

Bathroom decisions

Weeks, more like months really, of visiting bathroom showrooms, tile stores and the hell that is HD Expo:
How much is that countertop?
$2500 per linear foot.
Are you sure you don't mean $250?
Salesperson sighs and shrugs, it costs $800 linear foot to ship and $800 per linear foot to install; plus tax.
Could you check that for me?
Salesperson sighs again, rolls her eyes and says she can't find the literature.
Aaaagh.
Obviously I wasn't in the market for a countertop at $250 but $2500, that piqued my curiosity.
I finally found a tile I didn't hate at Expo. But the thought of dealing with the with the winning personalities and sales techniques of the people there was more than I could bear so I took the name of the manufacturer, went home and googled them. Turns out the distributor is less than 10 miles from where I live, they have dealers and showrooms in my area and, big plus, on the website I found a video of the nearest showroom's vignettes.
Their porcelain tiles were exactly what I was looking for, modern but warm with a great selection of red/brown tones that will suit a room that is visible, when the door is open, from most of the rest of the house. So we visited the showroom and found that the tiles were cheaper than at the other store. Phyllis the wonderful, patient tile designer at Porcelanosa spent hours with us selecting tiles that will fit within our palette and wasn't in the least offended when I rejected floor tiles yelling, "no, too Tuscan", "I hate the tumbled marble look". We chose two contrasting tiles for the walls and a coppery slate look for the floor. Phyllis is still looking for a shower floor tile that will fit into the design, but we're almost there.
Once we had the tiles sorted the rest of the fixtures fell into place easily. Now I'm waiting for the plumber and the tiler guys and hopefully in the early New Year we will go from this


to something like this

Early Fall 2006

early fall 2006
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

We've had a couple of bonus days here with temperatures in the upper 60s so I've been out taking a few photos of the exterior before the leaves disappear completely from the trees.
We lost very little in the storms last weekend, although the fence that was shaky is very rickety indeed now. I went to look at fencing but everything is so awful -vinyl in colors of mushroom and beige or cedar that looks as if it will last a season or two but no more. So we've decided to ask our handyman (who is building us a gate) if he can rebuild the fence the same as it was before only stronger. The trouble is that he is a superb handyman and very much in demand so I imagine the whole fence will have fallen down before he has time to see to this project. C'est la vie.